


Blue is Your Color

by seven league boots (memphis)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Empathy, Anal Sex, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), Dreamscapes, Drunk Keith (Voltron), Empathy, Fantasy Sex, First Time, Five Stages of Grief, Gay Keith (Voltron), Grief/Mourning, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Masturbation, Minor Curtis/Shiro (Voltron), Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Mutual Pining, Oral Sex, Past Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Past Allura/Lance (Voltron), Pining, Post Season 8, Roommates to lovers, Season 8 Spoilers, Texting, they were roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 15:14:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17144123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memphis/pseuds/seven%20league%20boots
Summary: It's been a year since she died, since New Altea was formed, and so much has changed. Keith dreams of an endless field of flowers, and the one person who was always just out of his reach.





	Blue is Your Color

**Author's Note:**

> This is how I needed to process Season 8. Thank you for reading. I hope this gives you some comfort as well.
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you to Cham ([@maauthulu](https://maauthulhu.tumblr.com/)), [Liv](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetolkiengeek) ([@thetolkiengeek](https://thetolkiengeek.tumblr.com/)) & [Dani](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowthunder/pseuds/snowthunder) ([@snowthunder](https://snowthunder.tumblr.com/)) for their beta, story input, hand holding and virtual hugs. <3333
> 
> Thank you to [Nonbinary_Queen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nonbinary_Queen) ([@bondingrazzledazzletime](https://bondingrazzledazzletime.tumblr.com)) for their Spanish help. (Endnotes have their translations)

 

**1/ it isn't real**

  


"Blue is your color."

Is what Keith says to him.

He repeats it in his head for a few minutes after. When he's alone and able to decompress.

"Blue is his color," he says to the empty room. Well not completely empty. His wolf is doing the thing where he's got his head in Keith's lap and he growls if Keith stops petting him.

Everyone else seemed to know what to say to Lance, to each other. Words of comfort and words of determination to move forward. What she would have wanted, what she stood for, what she–

Who she loved.

 

(All of them).

 

There were a thousand better things Keith could have said.

But in the moment, looking at the beautiful v-shaped marks burned into Lance's skin all he could think of was how perfectly they suited him. How they complimented the blue flecks in his eyes and the colors he wears and how–

Keith thinks about his own scar, touching it. It used to run warmer, especially at first when his body had been sending blood there like crazy to try and heal it. It doesn't burn anymore, but it feels like a divot in his skin, sunken beneath. Or like a piece of him was pulled off. It doesn't match his reds or the purple like his mother's. It's the wrong color, and it doesn't continue down the rest of his neck. It's a reminder that he's half.

Half-Galra.

Half-leader (Shiro really did come in for a clutch when he needed it).

Half-something else. He knows there's a piece missing. But can't quite place it.

  


**

 

**2/ you're wrong**

  


Here's a joke!

 ~~An Altean Empath~~ Lance walks into a room.

And Keith nearly shatters all the bones in his hand when it hits the wall because he was trying to punch Griffin's _stupid_ fucking face!

Ha!

 

**

 

He's always worn his emotions on his sleeve.

"Altean empathy is something we are born with. Along with being able to alter our appearance, it's what has made us such excellent diplomats and negotiators."

Keith has never really had to guess what Lance was feeling. He'd just come right out and say it. Or shout it. Or pound on his wall in the middle of the night to give Keith a piece of it.

"Some empaths could even soothe a room of tension by merely projecting their own calm feelings."

Keith looks at knuckles blooming blue and purple and laughs.

It's a funny joke, right?

 

**

 

If Keith knew he'd have this dream reoccur on and off over the next five years of his life, he would have written it down.

The smells, the sounds, the scenery. Every little part of how it started so he could chart how much it would progress as he moved forward.

Instead he wakes up and can barely remember it.

(Standing alone in a field of red flowers as a storm pours down on him and he's cold and alone and empty and sick. Far across the field he sees two people standing in sunshine and warmth and screams for them.

But they don't turn around.)

 

**

 

"A pseudo-Altean empath-projector-whatever, he's _human_ ," Shiro says when the remaining paladins and Coran meet in the morning.

(Romelle is with Lance somewhere, and they're screaming at each other about who forgot to feed Kaltenecker the other day.)

"So you think it's the classic Kübler-Ross model?" Pidge asks.

Shiro nods and turns to Coran. "Humans have 5 distinct stages of... grief. It's debatable if everyone experiences them in the same pattern or the same way but–"

"Lance is in stage two, we think," Hunk adds. "Which explains the anger, lashing out over nothing."

"You really think he spent an entire decaphoeb in denial?" Keith says to the room.

Hunk looks down at the table. "You weren't around while New Altea stabilized. We spent the better part of that decaphoeb scanning the planet for life forms. I always suspected he thought she'd… be there."

Keith feels something pinch inside his chest. "Right."

Coran rubs his chin. "A good point. It also could explain the delayed manifestation of these abilities… but how can you be certain? Or can you use this model to predict what's to come?"

Keith takes a deep breath in.

 

**

 

_I'll stop getting into fights._

_I won't talk back._

_No more playing with knives._

_I'll stop asking if my mom is coming home._

_I'll be so good._

_I just want to see my Dad._

_Please, God._

_Please let me see him one more time._

_Please._

_Please._

_..._

  


**

 

"Bargaining," Keith says, looking down at his hand as he flexes it carefully. "Then depression, and finally acceptance."

Pidge clicks her tongue. "There's still some debate over whether everyone follows that order exactly, or if it's more of a way to accept one's own mortality in the face of loss."

"Let's just all agree, he shouldn't be alone," Shiro interjects. "His family is still considering permanently relocating to New Altea, but until we know for certain, we should check in on him regularly. Maybe a rotation?"

They all agree.

  


**

  


When Shiro is out of earshot, Keith, Hunk, and Pidge agree he's not allowed to be in the same _room_ , let alone house, country, or even solar system as Lance if he does get to stage four. The three of them promise to make sure Lance is away from his family, that they'll take the brunt of it.

  


**

 

(Keith should have written that down too.)

  


**

  


The field of red flowers is sparkling with dewdrops in the early morning.

Keith is dreaming of course. It's Pidge's rotation, he's napping in his ship with his wolf half-snoring at his feet.

He hears the two people talking to each other and he can't move his feet, but their conversation is close enough now.

They start laughing, and Keith smiles.

  


**

  


**3/ please**

 

"I thought Hunk was next on the rotation?" Keith says to the flickering image of Pidge. "I don't even have the flight paths programmed from the new outpost yet."

"Seriously?" Pidge says, eyebrow raised. "Things happen, and I need a break before I shatter my own knuckles in frustration. And if you _really_ can't be bothered then I'll do it myself, you big baby."

"I didn't mean–" he starts over the comm.

"Just get the hell down here you fucking whiny–ugh. Whatever, I'm over this."

Her tone is _furious_. The comm cuts out and at flight path appears on his dashboard.

He programs it and says a quick goodbye to Kolivan and his mother, asking them to look after his wolf. He's got to get to New Altea as quickly as possible to diffuse the powder keg he saw on the other end of the line.

He thinks for a moment, maybe he should have left his knife behind too.

 

**

 

He touches down carefully in the airfield carved out near the house. Pidge's craft is there.

Hands in his jacket pockets, head down, deep breathing, stay calm.

"Stay calm," he murmurs to himself as he knocks on the door and Veronica all but takes his arm off pulling him inside.

"Please, you have to tell him she's right!" is all the warning Keith gets as he's shoved into the sitting room where Lance and Pidge are having it out.

Thing is, he doesn't feel anger reflected anymore.

It's... frustration, a desperate clawing need.

"Stage three," Keith whispers.

 

**

 

"But it's possible! You said it yourself, there's a piece of her left behind! You _can_ pull it out of me, and she–"

"I told you I won't, and it's not a matter of if I _can_. It's that I _won't,_ Lance!"

"Why?!" he practically screeches at Pidge.

She moves to take off the glasses that she stopped wearing months ago, turning the motion into just pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"Do you know what a homunculus is, Lance?"

"Yes," Keith interrupts.

"I wasn't asking–" Pidge starts.

"He knows," Keith answers suddenly. "It's like, something that's not a full person." Keith looks at Lance.

"Well, that's what you'd have. You're asking me to bring Allura back as a shell of what she was. She'd be just a single... _thing_ , not a sentient person. Not a being with agency and choice. She'd be a thought. A breath of who she was. And there's no telling what piece of her we would pull out, if it even is really her. What if it's the moment her atoms began to tear themselves apart? What if you bring her back and she's locked in a never-ending cycle of the worst pain _imaginable_?"

Lance walks out of the room, banging a door behind him.

 

**

 

Keith waits until Pidge has been gone for about a varga before he finds Lance in the grassy fields, he's sitting cross-legged on the ground.

He recognizes a well-worn, dog-eared book on transcendental meditation from Shiro's collection. It's open next to Lance as he breathes in and out. His palms are open on his knees.

"Shiro could never get me to even crack that open," Keith says, trying for a lighter tone. "Is it any good?"

"It's fucking bullshit," Lance says. "But I'll try anything twice."

"That's a terrible idea, what if you try something you're allergic to?"

"Mullet, just tell Veronica it's safe. I'll sign your Lance-sitting timesheet or whatever."

Keith opens his mouth but whatever he was going to say vanishes as he hears his ship firing up and tearing through the atmosphere.

The corners of his mouth twitch.

"Did you… did you leave the keys in the ship?"

"Uhhh…"

 

**

 

There's a note on the fridge.

 

 

 

> KEITH,
> 
> I'M BORROWING YOUR SHIP BECAUSE I NEED TO GO TO EARTH FOR CHOCOLATE & STUFF AND KATIE FORGOT TO TELL YOU TO BRING ME SOME.
> 
> DINNER IS IN THE OVEN JUST TURN IT ON FOR 30 DOBASHMINUTOS OR WHATEVS (DON'T SET THE HOUSE ON FIRE)
> 
> TE AMO LALA
> 
> -BERONI

  


"When I was little I had trouble with my B's and V's, so I called her _Beronica_."

"Lala?"

"She's the only person in the universe that is allowed to call me that. Not even my mom can call me that."

 

**

 

Keith sleeps on the couch.

The mists of the dream clear. He's in the field of the red flowers and at the edges are Lance and Allura, looking away from him.

What they're looking at, he's not sure.

The world seems to stretch forever.

Still, he calls out to them.

Lance's hand twitches.

  


**

  


"So I'm marooned on New Altea because of Lance's sister," Keith tells Krolia the next morning when Veronica still hasn't come back.

"How _convenient_ ," his mother sniffs.

"I swear I didn't plan it."

"It's fine, we'll go ahead without you. Congratulations on coming up with an excuse for missing the first of what I'm sure will be many political and social obligations to come."

Lance muffles a laugh as Keith closes the comm link.

"She's got you there," Lance says, not looking away from his book.

"I'm not trying to miss these things on purpose," Keith frowns. "But… I'm not complaining either."

"So you avoid being the crown Prince of the Galra another day."

"Lance it was a democratic election, I'm not a damn _prince_."

"Fine, you're like the First Kid. Ooh! First _Mullet!_ "

"Lance!" Keith tries to be annoyed, he really does, but he can't. He laughs and Lance reflects this until he's wiping tears from his eyes and Lance has collapsed to the floor clutching his sides.

  


**

 

Oh, here's another fun fact!

Altean Empaths that didn't care for politics or diplomacy, often went into comedy.

  


**

 

"You're still here?!" Veronica screeches after she touches down, her siblings and parents helping to unload her haul.

" _Someone_ had my ship," Keith glares at her.

Veronica bites her bottom lip. "I was hoping he'd offer to fly you back to the outpost himself."

"Why?"

"He hasn't flown since."

  


**

 

Hunk doesn't believe him. Until he spends ten minutes on New Altea and sends him a rambling apology.

"Are you worried?"

"I wasn't, but that was before I saw him try to break his own arm rather than take a spin in my new cruiser," Hunk's voice is soft. "I don't like where it's pointing."

  


**

 

Keith screams his voice raw in the dream and Lance finally turns his head and nods.

His blue marks glow and Keith wakes up with an old wound cut open.

"Oh fuck no, not this again," he throws off the covers and calls Shiro for an emergency crisis-level 'Keith-is-catching-feelings’ talk-down.

 

**

 

Keith sighs. "I need to be over him. I can't do this again."

"Do you want me to set you up?"

"No."

"Keith."

"Is there Saltpeter at a space mall? Some kind of thing I can take to just get it out of my system now that it's back?"

Shiro looks at Keith.

"Don't say it never left."

"I didn't have to."

"... Set me the fuck up."

 

**

 

Keith goes out with one of Curtis' friends, that guy from the Atlas crew Shiro has been seeing.

He has a good time. They eat dinner. They have a long walk. Keith goes upstairs for coffee and they hook up because he doesn't actually drink coffee. He promises to call the next morning.

Keith deletes the guy's number from his mobile and calls Hunk instead to see how he's doing.

 

**

 

One look at Hunk's face on his comm and Keith hands Krolia his knife, tells Acxa to feed his wolf, and takes Kolivan's fastest ship to New Altea. He doesn't even plot a course, just goes by instinct.

(In retrospect, Keith should have brought his knife and wolf and some extra clothes. But acting impulsively when it comes to…

To people.

People that mean… things to him.

Like… Lance...)

  


**

  


**4/ I can't**

 

"I'm tagging you out," Keith says as Hunk rubs his eyes.

"It's fine, I can do it–"

"Please, just go sit in my ship, call Shay, give yourself some space."

Hunk nods and Keith steps over the threshold.

He doesn't need to call out, just follows his instinct, slowly walking up the steps.

His hand is shaking as it touches the button to open the bedroom door and when it opens every terrible feeling he's ever felt slaps him across the face.

Lance looks up from where he's lying on the floor, eyes red and puffy and the marks on his face are glowing slightly in the darkness.

Before he can say anything, tell him to leave or not to bother, Keith walks in the room, and sits on the floor next to him, tears falling unapologetically down his cheeks.

 

**

 

Hunk texts him and Keith tells him to get in his ship and _leave_.

(The keys for Kolivan's ship are in his pocket this time.)

He's already changed all the door codes.

They have enough food and water.

Keith can take this one.

 

**

 

It's raining in the dreams again but Keith doesn't have to shout because Lance is facing him now. The marks on his face are glowing.

"Blue is your color."

 

**

 

"Stop saying that," Lance answers and Keith wakes up on his couch in borrowed pajama pants and a long sleeved shirt that's a little too long. "I get it," Lance is lifting something up off the floor.

Keith opens his mouth to ask.

"Seeds," Lance says before he can. "Rainy season is coming. 'Least that's what they tell me."

Keith blinks.

"Yeah, I don't mind if you help me," Lance sighs. "There's some extra stuff my brothers wear upstairs."

"Can you… read minds now?"

"No, but I'm high-key intuitive so I can fool you into thinking I can," Lance half-grins. "Besides, I can read you like a book, Keith. I _know_ you."

  


**

 

So.

Is Keith a worn, dogeared book that Lance will throw on his bedroom floor like the one he's staring at now?

Would he care?

"It'd get you out of my system, that's for sure," Keith mutters and marks Lance's place in the book, putting it on the bedside table.

  


**

  


"Your mobile was going off," Lance says when Keith gets in from his morning call to the Marmora outpost. He usually makes them on his ship.

Lance is mostly better, but there are moments when a wave of sadness will crash and they'll both start crying or lose their balance and have to stop everything.

Keith looks at Lance's face.

That… smirk.

"He didn't sound too happy when I answered," Lance grins. "So I did you a favor and said I was your cousin you were visiting. He seemed a bit calmer. Asked you to call back. Said he really did have fun."

Keith chews his lip.

"C'mon, give me something, Mullet? Veronica is gonna try and set me up if she thinks I'm even close to ready. If I live vicariously through your sex life, maybe I can trick her into thinking I found someone."

Keith sits at the kitchen table. "We had a date. We hooked up. I don't remember his name."

"What?!"

Keith shrugs. "Is it that bad?"

"You fucked a dude and didn't even-ohhhh."

"What?"

"You had a little twitch there, sorry," the Lance-grin returns. "You let him go to town on your ass and you don't even know his name?"

Keith rolls his eyes. "I needed a distraction."

"It must be hard being the young, hot, and single Galra prince."

"I'm not a prince, and did you just call me hot?"

"Hot-headed. Slip of the tongue."

 

**

 

Would you like another fun fact about Altean Empaths?!

You can _feel_ it when they lie.

 

**

 

Keith calls whatshisname.

"I'm staying on New Altea with my cousin. Not sure when I'll be on earth next."

"It's cool! Let me know when you're back, no pressure. I'm not looking for a relationship or anything serious. It's just nice to have a compatible person sometimes, yanno? And I had fun."

"Yeah, so did I."

"So like I said, if you're in town, we can have some fun again. Casual. No strings."

Keith looks at Lance outside, meditating under the twin moons of New Altea.

"I'll let you know."

  


**

 

Both Allura and Lance are looking at him now in the dream.

Allura is smiling.

Lance still isn't.

 

**

 

"Please, Keith, he is slobbering on everything we own!" Acxa pleads. "You need to come back and take him with you."

"What do you–"

"Kolivan re-assigned you to that quadrant. Just fly here and take your damn wolf back! He said you can keep the ship! Quiznaking hells, you stubborn–ugh!"

His wolf shoves Acxa out of the frame and whines at him.

"Where are you?"

"There was a seismic event on Khrecid-7. We're heading there now to provide emergency aid."

"I'll meet you there," Keith promises.

He stands up to go tell Lance he'll be flying away but back and–

He feels an impulse, one that he should ignore. But he can't.

(Not when it comes to Lance.)

  


**

  


"Ow! Fuck! Quiznak! Shit! Fuck!" Keith tries to hold back but he swears even harder.

"How in the hell did you manage this?"

"I just got off the comm with the Blade and–oh god, ow!" Keith hisses in pain as Lance pops his shoulder back into place. "I was rushing to tell you I needed to fly out to Khrecid-7 and I must have tripped and fell on the ground before the ship lowered the exit ramp."

He holds up his arms, bloody and bruised from where he scraped them on the concrete Lance laid down in his makeshift airfield.

"There's no way I can fly like this. So can you come help me program the autopilot at least? It's Kolivan's ship, so the voice controls don't really respond to my shitty pidgin Galra."

"I don't know if you should be providing relief in this state," Lance worries his thumb.

"I have to try. At least show my face," Keith quirks his mouth. "I'm First Mullet, after all."

Lance takes a deep breath. "Fine, I'll program a flight path for you."

 

**

 

"Keith."

He doesn't open his eyes.

"Keith, I know you aren't actually passed out from pain."

"... I could be?"

"Keith, the flight's programmed. Just get up and I'll send you–oh for the love of!" Lance slumps as Keith goes boneless and falls to the floor of the ship.

"Ow," he whines.

"You deserve it, you frickin' brat," Lance says sucking his teeth and sitting in the pilot's chair. "I bet you hurt yourself on purpose—actually, you know what? I'm positive you did. You hurt yourself on purpose to get me in here with some crazy notion that I'd magically get over all my issues and start zooming through space with you––was there even an earthquake? Planet quake? Or what did you call it, seismic event? Was that a lie too? Keith?!"

Keith picks himself up off the floor and sits in the co-pilot's seat. "Yes, Lance?"

"Did you hear anything I said?"

"A bit."

"Well, I'm happy to repeat it and about a thousand more stupid things you just pulled to–"

"Asteroid."

"I see it, god damn my eyes aren't broken, you're not getting me to fly, Keith!"

"Says the guy who's been flying solo for about three dobashes now."

Lance blinks and looks down at his hands, tight on the controls.

"Not a fucking word of this to Veronica."

Keith tries to feign zipping his mouth shut but winces in pain instead.

"I think the other shoulder–"

"Yeah, yeah. Once we find a spot to land I'll pop that one in too. God, you're a mess, Kogane."

 

**

 

Krolia and Kolivan find him in the medic tent getting patched up.

"That was a risk you took," Kolivan says as Keith's wolf licks his knees until they're fully soaked with slobber. "What if he didn't fly? What if his time on the ground had caused him to make a mistake because he was out of practice?"

Keith doesn't know how to answer because he's watching Lance from where he sits. Once he's wrapped and both shoulders are set and the painkillers are coursing through his bloodstream, he walks outside to where Lance is crouched in front of the rubble. His arms outstretched.

A Khrecidian child stumbles into view and runs into his arms, crying.

"It's okay, we're gonna find your momma and papa, I promise," he whispers to the child.

Keith clutches the fabric of his uniform, where his heart is beating.

Lance turns around,  and Keith feels his heart slow in the wake of his relaxing aura.

"Calm down, I got this one," Lance murmurs as he walks past where Keith is standing.

  


**

 

"I should text whatshisname," Keith mumbles into the fluffy blue fluff that surrounds him. His wolf makes an annoyed grunt but allows his clumsy cuddling while they fly back to New Altea.

"Maybe wait until the painkillers wear off," Lance says as he dips the ship to avoid a piece of debris floating in the atmosphere.

"Nah I wanna text him," Keith snuggles his wolf harder. "I wanna get laid."

Lance chuckles. "Yeah I'm not letting you near any sort of communicator until you're sobered up."

"Mean."

"So uh, you're gonna set up on Earth then?"

"Kolivan’s… um," words are fuzzy. So is his wolf. "Nah, I'll just stay home with you."

If Keith weren't doped up on all the painkillers, he might have yelled at Lance for swerving the ship suddenly. But he is, and everything is warm and blue and fluffy and licking his face and whining at him.

"I guess we should get you a house built before the rainy season starts," Lance says. "You can crash in one of my spare rooms."

"Couch is fine... I don't wanna... Yanno, if your brothers..." Keith trails off.

"I mean, we won't build it as big as mine. Or as nice. Maybe just reproduce your little hovel from Earth."

"Gotta text whatshisname, an' then ask Shiro for his name."

"Like a little cottage. Away from my house. Far, far away."

"No!" Keith whines and Lance looks over his shoulder. "I wanna be your neighbor."

"If I wasn't steering and deathly afraid of what Kolivan would do to me if I even _scratch_ this ship, I'd take a picture of you right now. All dopey and smiling and hugging that big fluffy monster like he's a teddy bear."

"We can borrow cups of sugar."

Keith closes his eyes.

  


**

 

The flowers in the field are red and Keith still can't move from where he's been standing.

Allura is still far away, her back turned as she sits, picking up a flower and weaving it into her long, flowing hair.

Keith thinks Lance is somewhere halfway between them. The wind is blowing his hair and clothing and he's watching Allura too until he turns to face Keith and smiles.

"Blue is your–"

"Red is yours," Lance says and he lifts up a flower to Keith.

Keith stretches as far as he can but can't quite reach it.

 

Yet.

 

**

 

A few things start to change.

The frame of a house goes up next door to Lance's, and it proves a good distraction so Lance has more to do with plans and blueprints, and Keith even cons a few more rides from him to the Blade's various relief missions.

Keith vetoes the idea of Lance changing his call signal to Mullet Force One.

Kosmo (Keith has to call him that, Lance demands it. No more referring to his wolf in some detached third-person perspective) decides the couch is too small, so he sleeps in one of the spare rooms or sometimes in Lance's room next to his bed.

Keith isn't really happy about that, but Lance wakes up in a better mood so he can't help but reciprocate with his own sunnier disposition.

  


**

  


Shiro opens the front door and shouts for Keith using his Garrison-voice.

Keith's not heard that one in decaphoebs, it feels like. Because his spine goes straight and his adrenaline pumps as his fight-or-flight response kicks in and he suddenly has an urge to hide.

Which is nearly impossible to do when you have an Altean Empath in the same building as you and Keith is pulled out of the hull of Kolivan's ship by an unnecessarily overpowered robotic arm and held in mid-air like a misbehaving cat.

Lance is smirking at him. Veronica is laughing and taking pictures.

"What the hell?" Keith finally manages when he regains a touch of composure.

"I mean, you can't take him like that, can you?" Lance asks and no one is explaining anything to Keith which just makes him more frustrated.

"He can change on the way," Shiro says. "I'll bring him back in a day or two depending on how things go with W–"

"–Will _somebody_ explain things to me!" Keith shouts, trying to kick free of the vise-grip Shiro has.

Veronica shakes her head. "Just bring me back chocolate okay? _Expensive_ chocolate."

"I'll explain more on the way," Shiro says. "It's better if you don't know what's happening until we're in the air."

"Have fun! Send me pictures! No nudes!" Lance waves as Shiro carries him towards his personal cruiser.

"Have fun with what?!" Keith shouts back over his shoulder.

Veronica thumps Lance on the arm. "Lala! Keith, you can send nudes. We won't judge."

"Y'know that's fair? Send me nudes, Mullet. I need some of that vicarious tea to sip. After all the work I put in, I should get something out of this."

Keith just goes limp.

 

**

 

"What do you mean I have a date with whatshisname?!" Keith says, quickly changing into the clothes Shiro had set aside in his ship while he flies them to Earth. "I haven't spoken to him in a spicolian movement."

"More like three phoebs."

Keith blinks.

It hasn't been that long, has it?

Why hasn't someone else come to Lance's house?

(Other than Veronica)

"What happened to the rotation?"

Shiro chokes. "That's your question?"

Keith flops down in the seat next to Shiro. "We were all supposed to rotate, weren't we?"

"Keith–" Shiro starts and stops, he's concentrating on the flight path, but his eyes are moving back and forth. Means he's running through ways to say what he wants to say. Or he's having one of those weird moments when he's translating in his head.

Lance does that sometimes. When he and Veronica slip into Spanish and he has to switch back because he'll say something offhand and Keith won't know what he just said. Then he'll just groan and tell Keith he's resetting, and Keith needs a calm tea or something like that.

"Were you just in Tōhoku?"

"Ha–" Shiro catches himself. "Yeah, visiting my Aunt. Stop changing the subject."

"How is she?"

"Keith, have you even seen your text messages in the last few days?"

He takes out his mobile and scrolls down. "Wait… I don't remember sending these. Oh my god—Lance sent these texts!?" Keith feels another adrenaline surge. "Oh god, he probably sent the nastiest—Shiro did you know about this?"

"Just read them."

Keith scrolls through the messages, they're a bit flirtier than he normally would be, but they're not… They're not too far off the mark.

Whatshisname asked him about his favorite TV shows, and Lance-as-Keith responded with that he didn't watch much TV growing up, and gets restless so he prefers the radio or podcasts so he can multitask and listen.

Whatshisname asked what his favorite ice-cream is, and Lance-as-Keith said he is lactose intolerant, but willingly suffers for Cake Batter ice cream and has been known to dip fries in a milkshake.

Whatshisname asked what he missed most about Earth, and Lance-as-Keith said the sunsets, the blue sun of New Altea paints the sky purple and lilac, not orange or red.

"He asked you for these answers?"

"Only one, before I knew what was going on. He didn't know if you preferred red or white wine, and I told him about how I brought you and Adam to Iwata for the holidays one year and you got into my Uncle's sake and passed out."

Keith scrolls through his messages to find that exchange.

  


**083-4742-05555:** Beer is okay I guess

 **083-4742-05555:** I'm more of a red wine fan myself

 **083-4742-05555:** Merlot of course

 **083-4742-05555:** What about you?

 

 **Me:** rice wine

 **Me:** downed a whole bottel one xmas & passed out

 

 **083-4742-05555:** LOL!

 

 **Me:** i was a total lightweight

 **Me:** but i'll change ur mind abt beer

 **Me:** i drive my cousin crazy when i moan to him abt guinness

 **Me:** I get all goopy and sentimental about it

 **Me:** he is a saint to put up with me like that

 

 **083-4742-05555:** Guinness???

 

 **Me:** prroblem?

 

 **083-4742-05555:** Didn't think a guy as fit as you would be into a beer like that

 **083-4742-05555:** Guinness is like a loaf of bread in a can

 

 **Me:** maybe i keep it tight so i can enjoy indulging myself ;)

 **Me:** i like somthing tall and dark

 **Me:** with good head

 

 **083-4742-05555:** Well then

 **083-4742-05555:** I guess you'll have to change my mind

 

 **Me:** if u think you can keep up.

 **Me:** im planning a visit soon

 **Me:** my cousin wants lots of details so take photos

 **Me:** im terrible at things like that

 

 **083-4742-05555:** LOL

 **083-4742-05555:** Thought we wanted casual no strings?

 

 **Me:** i mean yeah but

 **Me:** nvm

 **Me:** yr right causal and no strings

 **Me:** im calling shiro and seeing when he can pick me up

 **Me:** i'll let u know when im planetside

 

 

"It's uncanny, he even got your random abbreviations and misspellings right because you turn off autocorrect."

"It kept changing 'Marmora' to 'Macaron'," Keith frowns. "Altean empathy or whatever must have filled in the rest of the gaps."

Shiro raises an eyebrow but Keith doesn't notice as he keeps backtracking through his texts.

  


**

 

"Wait, really? I was texting with your cousin?!" Whatshisname laughs and takes another sip of his red wine.

"'Fraid so," Keith shrugs and savors his beer.

"Huh," he pauses. "He really knows you well. Curtis told me you and Shiro were practically family. Did you grow up apart and recently reconnect?"

He's giving Keith the out.

An excuse to handwave away a cousin that doesn't actually exist.

Keith can just say yes, chug his beer, and get fucked and call it a night. Have a story for Lance and Veronica to chat about over breakfast. Get Shiro off his back. Get his pent-up sexual frustrations out with a night of consensual and mutually enjoyable no-strings debauchery.

"He's not my cousin. He told you that so you wouldn't think I was avoiding you because I was seeing someone else. I've been living in his house, sleeping on his couch for about three or four phoebs now. I'm attracted to him. Physically, sexually, emotionally, in every way possible I am attracted to _him_. I've been that way for a long time. But he was dating a mutual friend of ours, and she died. Our friends didn't want to leave him alone while he was working through his grief and we all agreed to rotate around but once I knew he was in the worst part of it I showed up and I just haven't left his side since. And I pretend I don't know why, or I'll lie and say that it's because I know better than any of them what it's like to lose someone you love, having gone through it when my Dad died. But it's bullshit. It's because I am hopelessly, and uselessly, in love with him."

Keith takes a long drink.

"So that's my deal. If you still wanna hook up, great. If not, I'm going to go find some fancy overpriced grocery store and buy all the chocolate and dark beer I can carry. And then I'm getting a flight back to New Altea so I can hug my wolf and convince myself that I can hide my feelings around a god damn empath one more day."

He blinks a few times.

"What's my name?"

"I have no fucking clue. You're not even saved in my phone. I call you 'whatshisname'."

He smiles, taking out his wallet and putting a few bills for the wine on the table. "Goodnight, Keith."

  


**

  


There's a dozen angry texts from Shiro and an apologetic one from Curtis.

Keith scrolls past them, and calls Veronica.

"I'm drunk. I'm at whatever they call Whole Foods nowadays. And I'm staring at a wall of chocolate, the _fuck_ do you want?"

Keith scrunches his nose and holds the phone away from his ear at the high-pitched shriek she makes and once she calms down he starts filling his basket.

"Oh, um… So there's one more thing I keep forgetting to stockpile, can you grab it?" Veronica asks. "I get if you're embarrassed but can you get me…" Veronica whispers her request.

"What?" Keith says. "Why the fuck would I mind?"

"Some guys are still embarrassed," Veronica says.

"Some guys are fucking scum. Regular or overnight? Do you need wings?"

  


**

  


"So… twenty-seven chocolate bars. A case of Nitro stout. A case of Guinness. Jumbo-sized box of menstrual pads and three diva cups," the cashier says. "That's all?"

Keith blinks. "Wait… Do you sell lube? Unflavored is fine."

" _No_."

"Then that's all."

"Gac or credit?"

Keith throws down Shiro's store card.

"And yes, I wanna spend any reward points you got on this fucker."

  


**

  


Keith opens the door, Lance is on the couch, sleeping. Kosmo is too, with his head in Lance's lap.

He tiptoes around the house and puts the beer in the fridge, except one that he cracks open and sips. He leaves the chocolate and menstrual stuff in front of Veronica's door, not wanting to wake her.

He stares at Lance's bedroom door.

"Fucker texts for me, I take his bed," he opens the door and stumbles to the bed, flopping down with his beer against his chest.

"You asshole, fucking, stealing my-mmph," Keith tries to pick up his alcohol-soaked train of thought. "In my head, taking my words. 'My cousin is a saint' you sonofabitch. Yeah a fucking saint. Fucking saint, monk, priest, rabbi, nun. _Fuck_."

Keith takes another drink.

"Still I fucking love him. Asshole."

He leans back, his head gently knocking against the headboard. Talking to himself and Lance and not-Lance all at the same time.

"Me, not you. I'm the asshole. You're only trying to help get me laid. Fucking just lay _me!_ Yanno, if you'd only let me get you out of my system _finally_."

Keith puts his beer on the side table and slides down the bed, his hands under his head as he looks up at the ceiling.

"God, I hope you're terrible at sex. I hope you try calling me a 'bitch' or a 'cockslut' so I can slap the shit out of you. I hope you pretend your dick's bigger than it is. I hope you come before you even get it in. I hope you gag me if I go down on you and I vomit and we're too embarrassed to ever try anything again. I hope you have a fucking _forest_ growing down there and I can refuse because I can't even find your cock," Keith makes himself chuckle.

"I hope I'm just as bad for you. I hope I scrape your dick with my teeth and you scream and run away. I hope you're too sensitive and I go too hard and you start crying. I hope you think I use too much tongue when I kiss or I bite you weird on the shoulder. I hope you try to lick my ass and it's sweaty and gross and _you_ gag. I hope I come too fast and get it in your eye. I hope it's a disaster and we laugh about it over breakfast."

Keith's eyes start slipping shut.

"I hope we're telling everyone about the nightmare of a sex life we tried to have. How horrible it was the first time… and the second… and how it got even worse if we switched… Like I tried to raw you and—" Keith laughs quietly. "You'd be like: 'Mullet, I'd fuck you so much better, just calm-a-tea' or whatever you keep saying... Chamomile tea?"

 

**

 

Keith is still laughing in the dreamscape.

"What's so funny?" Lance asks.

"It's nothing. Chamomile tea."

"It's _calmate_ , I'm telling you to relax," Lance smiles. "We'll get there."

He holds out the flower again and Keith reaches.

His fingertips touch the petals.

  


**

 

_"Ahh Lala, tú chico que pasó mi examen."_

_"Me resbala. Tú estás loca, ¿A quién le importa esa mierda de comprar toallitas o tampones? Tumba eso, Beroni."_

  


**

  


Keith wakes up with a hangover and his face buried in Lance's pillows.

And despite the alcohol and pounding in his head, he's got a nightmare of a hard-on.

"Fuck," Keith cringes.

  


**

  


Altean Empaths know when you've been masturbating.

You can be as quiet and careful as you want. You can fly to another solar system and finish yourself off and fly back and they'll have a _look_ in their eyes. They'll tell you to go wash your hands or hand you tissues and lotion and make jokes about it.

But Keith remembers why he's so damn hard and so damn sick and just gets angry and stomps into the bathroom to jack it in Lance's shower in revenge.

  
  


**

 

"You stole my phone and texted whatshisname for me, I want no judgment!" Keith shouts before Lance can even _start_ with him as he enters the kitchen and beelines for the cabinets.

"I–"

"And how dare you!? You're one to talk about pent up whatever! I see some dude casually and you don't get to decide that we're star-crossed lovers waiting for you to be a dumbass cupid and bring us together!"

"Keith–"

He continues ignoring Lance, his back to him as he busies himself around the kitchen assembling his breakfast and a cup of tea. "It was a serious _fucking_ violation of my private life and telling that random guy all that shit about me and how I still make myself sick eating Cake Batter ice-cream and I'm hungover and I couldn't even get laid because I decided to be honest and—yes I jacked off in your shower today and slept in your bed, so fucking deal with it! Kosmo likes sleeping with you better anyway, so _whatever_. Is my house ready yet? I feel like I need to slam a door in your face. Are the doors up yet at leaaaaast…"

Keith trails off as he finally takes in all the guests seated with Lance and Veronica at the kitchen table.

"Um, good morning Mr. and Mrs. McClain. Mom. Kolivan."

Veronica has both her hands over her mouth and she's turning red trying to hold in her laughter.

Keith hears the kettle whistle go off.

"Does anyone want tea?"

  


**

  


Keith takes an entire kettle of chamomile tea and a bag of those disgusting reddish chip-things Lance eats and holes up in his ship. (Kolivan's ship, but whatever).

At least it's a safe space because no, his house isn't finished. And Kosmo must be off chasing down those things that look like almost-squirrels so he can't teleport him to a planet with a star about to go nova so he can just end it all in a blaze of fire.

"Requesting to board Mullet Force One!" Lance shouts from outside.

Keith presses the button for the ship's comm. "Request denied."

He hears the door slide open regardless. "Lance, _please_ ," he sighs.

"Kolivan gave me the code, blame him for being a chatterbox." Lance looks around and sees Keith on the floor. "Aha, you took my Space-takis, I knew it!"

Lance sits next to Keith, grabbing a handful. "Mmm. So spicy, but worth it."

"They're spicy?"

"Uh, yeah? These're like the habanero chips, do you have some Galran spice-immunity? Ooh, I should get us a couple of ghost peppers. One time my brothers Marco and Luis each ate one and tried to see who could go the longest without drinking milk. It was hilarious. They were crying and cursing so much my mom told us the neighbors called thinking we were performing some kind of human sacrifice or watching dirty movies."

Keith tries not to laugh but Lance is doing that _thing_ again.

The thing where he's feeling calm and happy and Keith is going to reflect that whether he wants to or not.

"You're really messing with my ability to run off and brood, y'know?"

"I know," Lance says, taking a drink from Keith's cup, the other side. "It was Veronica's idea, I just went and got all _extra_ about it because I'm an asshole."

"Yeah?"

"She said if I wasn't going to let her set me up, could she at least set her friend up with you because he's a sweetheart or something. And I mentioned Westley, and it just kind of snowballed."

"Westley?"

"Whatshisname."

"Huh."

"Anyway, I shouldn't have violated your privacy. I'm sorry for that, and you know I mean that, yeah?"

"Yeah," Keith sighs. "Apparently you can read me like a book."

Lance laughs. "Are you kidding?! You're like a triple-reverse translated book, if anything. Like it started in English and was translated to Japanese and Arabic and Galra and then back to English but written in that weird mirror backwards style like Leonardo Da Vinci or some shit," Lance leans his head on his hand. "You're still a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a burrito of darkness. Trust me."

"Then why'd you do all that?"

Lance shrugs. "I guess I like a challenge? And I forgot how much I like flirting."

Keith thinks back to the texts he read. "Yeah, I could tell when it was definitely your voice and whatshisname almost caught you a bunch of times."

"You're a subtle flirt, but it's there. It's in you, Keith, I'll draw it out of you some day. Get the boys you want falling at your feet," Lance winks. "So, I'm gonna go scrub any leftover spunk off my shower walls, and we call this even?"

Keith groans into his hands.

"Just tell me when they're all gone and I can come back home," he says.

Something cracks in the air. Keith catches it, and backpedals. "I mean, inside. Inside your home. My home is not done yet, so like… ugh. Please just let me die here."

"Nah, I like–" Lance pauses. "I couldn't do that to Kosmo. He likes me too much."

"Thanks, pal, so when exactly is my house gonna be done?"

"You're taking him away from me!" Lance gasps.

"He can teleport, Lance. I'm sure you'll wake up with a face full of blue fluff plenty."

"Oooh, joint custody. I'm down. He's good to cuddle with when you're having a rough night," Lance pauses. "Y'want me to send him here?"

"...I would like that very much please."

  
  


**

  


Altean Empaths can feel what are known as "emotional impressions" that have been left behind.

Like a dip in a well-worn couch, if there's a place where someone felt _something_ strongly enough, they'll pick up on it. They'll be able to identify the feelings and sometimes experience them if they don't have enough control.

It's why Lance sleeps on the other side of his bed that night.

It's why he reaches a shaky hand out to where Keith slept, his curiosity getting the better of him.

It's why he feels his face flush and cheeks burn when he touches the sheets and his mind and body are _flooded_.

It's why Keith hears the shower start up in the middle of the night, but ignores it, in favor of continuing his apologetic email to Lance's parents.

  
  


**

  


The rainy season starts, so they stop building Keith's house.

The sky is perpetually cloudy-blue and charcoal-gray and the moons reflect in dusty rose-colors.

Lance meditates indoors now, and falls asleep on the couch.

There's an unspoken rule that Keith can take the side of the bed Lance isn't using on those nights.

  
  


**

  


 

Maybe it's sense-memory, but Keith finds it harder and harder to calm his libido.

(Pun not intended).

He really almost texts whatshisname or Veronica for the name of her friend, because he's randomly, desperately, horny at the most inconvenient times. Lance is polite enough to ignore it, accepting his various excuses with tact and a distinct lack of knowing smirks or shit-eating grins.

Keith wonders if there's some kind of aphrodisiac in New Altean rain. It _is_ different from old Altean rain– and not a death risk anymore, thankfully. It's more Earth-like coming down in buckets and sheets of pure water, soaking the ground and making everything smell earthy and familiar.

A small choked sound draws his attention to the other side of the room, and Keith stops musing on the particular quality of the rain.

It's not just him.

Lance is leaving the room, head down, avoiding eye contact and Keith catches it as he passes by. Just like when they were on Khrecid-7 and Lance left a trail of calmness in his wake.

But it's a different feeling now. It's primal and lusting and… well Lance is _horny._

Of course, it turns him on even _more_. He groans into his hands.

 

 

**

  


"No, I'm not!" Lance shouts into his phone when Keith gets home one night after an away mission. "Veronica I get it, but I–"

Keith is soaking wet, in the doorway, his Marmora uniform sticking to him and waiting for Lance to finish up his conversation.

"Sorry, can you grab me a towel? I'm drenched," Keith says as his teeth chatter. He's freezing and wet and he just wants to be warm and dry.

"Gottagobye," Lance clicks his phone shut and stares at Keith.

"Lance? Towel?"

More staring.

"Lance, please, I don't wanna track a small lake indoors."

Keith is shaking and he wants…

He wants a towel.

And he wants to get laid.

But Lance is flushing rose-cheeks and his pupils are blown out and his marks are _glowing_.

Oh. Oh fuck no.

Lance is reflecting him, right? Or is it Keith getting hot and bothered because Lance is just as horny and desperate as he is now? Lance is rummaging through a linen closet and approaches Keith carefully with a towel.

He takes it, and they're so close, and the feeling only amplifies and Lance licks his lips and Keith makes a sound that he can't help because _fuck_ he looks so good.

"I have to go," Lance says and turns sharply on his heels, running upstairs, shouting for Kosmo to get out of his room and slamming the door.

Keith... has a lot to process.

But as he looks down to take his boots off, he realizes there's a more pressing matter at hand.

(Puns intended).

 

 

**

 

 

Keith isn't going to make it to his ship and it's still pouring outside and Kosmo was giving him a _look_ so he winds up in the downstairs bathroom, pulling his wet clothes off and stepping into a steaming hot shower, still rock-hard and _wanting_.

He breathes heavy, water running down his face, his entire body, in rivers and streams and his hand settles on his cock, teasing himself with the right amount of pressure and he groans. His other hand braces on the tiled wall so he can lean to one side as he starts to move back and forth.

Lance's eyes.

His breath.

His body shudders, and Keith surrenders, just gives in to wanting him. Forgetting that Lance can probably feel how much he wants it to be his hand. Or mouth. Or fuck–both. Both of them at once and Keith goes faster and clenches his jaw.

What if it's Lance on his knees, one long-fingered hand around his shaft and his tongue licking at his precum from the tip and looking up with that cocky grin, maybe his marks would glow with mischief and—

Keith comes, panting but the idea keeps playing itself out, he looks down and closes his eyes as the water washes everything else away.

Keith doesn't want Lance to be bad at sex. He wants sex with Lance, good or bad. Even if Lance decided to pull some bullshit 'sex tips from Cosmo' and bite his foreskin, Keith would take it. He'd take coming too fast or in Lance's eyes and drop to his knees laughing and apologizing and rinsing it off and sweetly smiling.

"Let's try it again," Keith says to no one and to Lance and not-Lance at once. Or maybe...

"Let me," he'd whisper and drop down to swallow Lance whole. Make him gasp, with how quickly he could get him hard. With how easily he could swallow that big cock he knows Lance has because those flight suits didn't hide enough.

  


**

  


Here's an old joke, but a good one!

What happens when you combine the Holt siblings, a series of escalating dares, and a drunk Keith who finally got cleared from bedrest after the final fight with Sendak, with a bowl of fruit?

You get Lance walking in to the kitchen to watch Keith take a large banana, swallow it from root to tip, keep it in his mouth for a full 30 second count before removing it, completely intact and un-bruised by even the slightest tooth mark.

Well, it's not so much a joke, as a funny story. (Or a gag, really).

The best part is when Lance pulled Pidge aside and asked for a copy of the video she was taking.

  
  


**

 

 **Me:** help me veronica

 **Me:** ur brother needs to get laid

 **Me:** hes killing me

 **Me:** every five minutes i stg

 **Me:** it's like im 13 again & someone in the garrison forgot to log off from club thrust on one of the computers in the library

 **Me:** and i lost my goddamn mind

 **Me:** (i bet it was shiro but he still denies it)

 

 **Veronica:** Keith, my parents read this over my shoulder at church.

 

 **Me:** ur lying

 

 **Veronica:** Well now Mami is crying thanks

 

 **Me:** ur lying about church bc I did the time conversion it's 11;00 on a weekday

 **Me:** also u havent been to church since you an ;lance got caught filling squirt guns with holy water

 **Me:** and a nun smacked him in the face

 **Me:** so you renounced and he just wanted to watch cartoons so he copied u

 

 **Veronica:** Oh damn, he told you?

 **Veronica:** (It's weird you use "u" and "you" in the same sentence)

 

 **Me:** ofc why else do i know all this random shit about u??

 **Me:** like how you're terrified of sperm whales

 **Me:** (it's weird i know i hate texting i always send too fast)

 

 **Veronica:** LOL okay I just said that stuff to screenshot it for Shiro and scandalize him

 **Veronica:** Sperm whales are needlessly evil-looking submarines with teeth I feel no shame

 

 **Me:** okay that is pretty funny is shiro making screeches?

 

 **Veronica:** Nah we're in public so he's just turning colors

 **Veronica:** ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

 **Me:** how doyou make that face?

 

 **Veronica:** He texted me he doesn't know what Club Thrust was

 **Veronica:** "was" HA!! He is such a bad liar

 

 **Me:** I know

 **Me:** so can we make lance a space tinder?

 **Me:** or a spacce grindr?

 **Me:** he needs to take this out on soemone else

 

 **Veronica:** I can think of someone nearby ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

 **Me:** wtf stopit im dying and im running out of clean clothes

 

 **Veronica:** Ew

 **Veronica:** Fine

 **Veronica:** I guess I'll come over with ice-cream and gay porn for us to watch

 **Veronica:** Have you seen Private Lessons 3? It's a classic.

 

 **Me:** ???

 **Me:** (yes ofc i'm not a total ascetic)

 

 **Veronica:** Bc honey that's all the relief I'll be able to provide you

 **Veronica:** There's only one way to get Lance to stop

 **Veronica:** (OMG you can spell Ascetic but not Someone??? Keith, turn autocorrect back on.)

 

 **Me:** tELL ME!!

 **Me:** (fuck you ur not the boss of my phone)

 **Me:** I didn't say no to the ice-cream and gay porn so come here saveme

 **Me:** maybe he'll stop if you're around?

 

 **Veronica:** Gross

 **Veronica:** Just think about boobs or something else unsexy to you

 

 **Me:** I AM TRYIGN

 **Me:** all the boobs!

 **Me:** even Shiro boobs (ugh)

 

 **Veronica:** I screenshotted this for him he has sad wet eyes now

 **Veronica:** I texted him I think his boobs are plenty sexy

 **Veronica:** I think Curtis is going to explode he's holding in a laugh bc we're in a meeting

 **Veronica:** (Maybe I shouldn't have sent that via our group chat oh well)

 

 **Me:** lol

 

 **Veronica:** Griffin keeps leaving the group but someone else keeps adding him back

 

 **Me:** pity

 

 **Veronica:** IKR???

 **Veronica:** TBH this is making a boring-ass meeting about irrigation infrastructure tolerable

 **Veronica:** So for that, I'll come over with the goods and ice-cream and even some lactaid because I'm a Good Person™

 

 **Me:** bring extra rainbow jimmies plz they never have enough in the ice-cream

 **Me:** i have plenty of beer & chocolate for you dw

 **Me:** im gonna google dildo collection photos

 **Me:** tell him i sent you that

 **Me:** and I''l say - im trying all of these twice!

 **Me:** but nothing's big enough!

 

 **Veronica:** Keith omg I am so blessed that you're in my life

 **Veronica:** (google "dragon dildo" I wanna see if he legit cries or Griffin screams)

 

 **Me:** bet griffin just leaves the room he's a wussbag

 **Me:** shiros probably going to call and curse me out

 

 **Veronica:** LOL! Okay I reserved a ship. See you tonight!

 **Veronica:** (or tomorrow morning I might be messing up the time conversion)

 **Veronica:** Ooh day drinking and gay porn! It's like college all over again :3

 

 **Me:** k shiros calling me

 **Me:** i sent him the dragon dildo website and asked him to bring me a couple next time he visits

 

 **Veronica:** KEITH LET IT GO TO VM AND SEND IT TO ME I BEG YOU

  


**

  


"Are you really day-drinking, eating ice cream, and watching gay porn with my sister?"

"Yes."

"Intentionally?"

"It was her idea. I just added the day-drinking part."

"... did you take–?"

"Yes, I took my Lactaid. Would you just? _Chamomile tea,_ Lala."

Lance raises an eyebrow.

" _Calmate_."

"That too."

"Are you mad at me?"

"Are you?"

"Yeah, a little. I'm essentially exiled out of my own sitting room. Can't you take it upstairs?"

"Kosmo's up there, I don't want him watching."

"Well, I don't want to walk in on my sister watching dudes ream each other!"

"You wanna go sit in my ship and eat your weird habanero chips?"

"... yes I would."

  


**

 

 

Veronica gives Keith a look when he gets back from the kitchen with more beer.

"What?" he asks handing one to her

"Are you having sex with my brother? You know I don't mind. It's the only reason I've stopped trying to set him up with anyone," she says as she opens the bottle on the edge of the coffee table.

Keith shakes his head. "We aren't having sex."

"With each other?"

"Just me and lefty," Keith waves his hand.

"Gross," Veronica sighs. "I think Shiro's serious about that guy, y'know."

"Good," Keith says.

"He still gets a little choked up if we ever start a story that mentions Adam," Veronica says. "I feel guilty whenever I do that."

"You shouldn't feel guilty. Yeah, they meant a lot to each other but shit, he's gotta keep _living_. I miss Adam, and I wasn't as close with him but like…" Keith trails off. "This is a trap."

"I love my brother. I will always love Allura and what she meant to him. But you reach a place where you have to let him move forward, right?"

"Us having sex isn't going to fix what's broken."

"I'm not saying it would. You can love a broken thing."

"Lance isn't a broken thing!" Keith snaps a little harder than he intended.

Veronica leans back into the couch, gentle smile and a knowing look.

"So... you _do_ love him?"

Keith nods and turns back to the TV that's paused. Veronica's arm wraps around his shoulder and Keith feels her head rest on his shoulder and he leans his head on hers.

"He's hard not to love."

"You have no idea," Keith says.

  


**

 

 

Keith literally can't be in the same room as Lance for more than a minute before it happens. They both leave quickly, and then later Lance suggests they order space pizza, and Keith calls him an idiot.

They end up eating dinner, avoiding eye contact, and it starts all over again before bed. First thing in the morning and Keith is already tired, and worn, and he can't even ask Lance to fly him _anywhere_ because he's afraid they'll legit jump each other in Kolivan's ship, and he really doesn't want _that_.

He wants Lance though.

And he wants a damn _break._

So when Lance walks in on him bending over to pick up a dropped spoon in the kitchen and Keith feels his hunger and his lust burning he snaps.

"Lance!" Keith shouts, whipping around to face him. "Enough! I've been with you through anger and bargaining and depression and walking into a room feeling every bad feeling I've ever felt magnified a hundred times. But this is it. This is my breaking point."

Lance blinks and looks at him, his face flushing as Keith crosses the room and pokes him in the chest.

"Either you fuck me or you find someone else to fuck because I'm going to–"

Keith isn't even halfway through his sentence when Lance slaps his hand away and grabs him. Lance pins him against the wall, Keith's legs wrapping around his waist to balance them.

Lance's hands slide up, fingers tangling in Keith's hair. Warm breath mixing with his own.

"If you want this to stop, I'll stop," Lance says in a deep whisper. "If you think for one moment I'm projecting onto you, like you don't have a way to tell me no–"

"I want this," Keith interrupts. "Lance, you must have _some_ idea about how much I want this? Fuck, just feel what I'm projecting to _you_."

Lance sucks in a breath, as his hands start traveling lower and Keith keens into every touch.

"Bedroom," Lance says and Keith wraps his arms around Lance's shoulder as he carries him upstairs and Keith bounces slightly when he hits the mattress. Clothes are being stripped away frantically.

Lance's cock is half hard and Keith reaches for it but stills.

"You want to go right for it, don't you?" Lance grins. "You want me out of your system?"

"I… yes."

"Same here," Lance is reaching for things from his nightstand. "I wanna stop wondering what it's like to fuck a Galra Prince."

Keith snarls, "Lance!" And just as he's about to correct him Lance starts twisting open a familiar bottle and Keith finds his hands gripping sheets and pillows and–

 

 

**

 

 

In the dream, Lance's hand and his own are finally touching, fingers lacing together.

Lance smiles. "See? We'll get there."

"Blue is your color."

"Red is yours."

Allura is humming distantly, gathering more flowers.

  


**

  


Keith snaps awake from a brief vision or doze or whatever that was. He's spent, sore, and his hands are laced with Lance's.

"I wish you were worse in bed," Keith says honestly.

"You'd think my inexperience would help me out there?" Lance says, panting for breath.

"Well, you actually _listened_ to me. You're better than whatshisname."

"I mean, you're good at letting me know when I'm–"

"–about to basically raw me because condoms never have enough lube and those were nearly expired?"

"Sorry."

"See, you're not _great_ , but you're–fuck, you've got way too much _potential_. Like, god damn you are way stronger than you look, but gentle? And you're not too sensitive or too rough and yeah, I still wanna suck you off."

"Damn it, we were supposed to get this out of our systems! Keith!" Lance looks at him frantically. "I think we have to fuck again?"

Keith is swinging his legs over to straddle Lance's. "I have to suck your cock, like _seriously_. I haven't done that in way too long. And I need to give lefty a break so if you can get me off that'd be swell."

"At the same time?"

"Whenever you get a chance," Keith pauses. "By the way, if you call me–"

"I'm not calling you 'Mullet' when you're sucking my dick, Keith. I'll probably just curse a lot in English and Spanish. I totally don't still have a copy of the banana video, by the way."

"That wasn't what I was going to say, I don't like being called names when I'm doing stuff like this."

"I just told you I won't say the M-word!"

"Those weren't the names I was–"

"What names?" Lance is curious now, sitting up on his elbows. "I'm serious. Really inexperienced dude that hasn't gotten laid since, uh, a while let's just say, is asking you."

"... Cockslut."

Lance furrows his brow. "Who the fuck do we have to _fucking murder_ that called you that? Was it someone in the Garrison? I will call up Hunk and Shiro and Pidge and your mom and Kolivan and every McClain that I can find and we will all go _fucking murder_ them."

Keith grins. "Yeah, it was someone in the Garrison. Adam failed him so he lost his scholarship and got booted."

"Adam? Shiro's Adam?"

"Yeah," Keith runs his teeth along his lower lip. "Did I ruin the mood?"

"I still want a name so I know who I'm going to fucking murder next time I'm on Earth."

"I honestly don't remember it."

"Keith!"

"I'm really bad with names! You of all people should know this by now!"

"Oh just—suck my dick, _Mullet_."

"Fine, _Cargo Pilot_."

  


**

 

 

"Ahh," Lance sighs.

Keith blinks, remembering something as he swallows. "Lance?"

"Mmm?"

"Delete. The banana. Video."

"Fine, let me send it to whatshisname first?"

"I'm gonna go finish myself off in your shower again."

Lance laughs and follows him inside.

  


**

  


They don't kiss.

They fuck. They get each other off.

Lance steals his breath away, but not with a kiss.

The closest his mouth comes to Keith's body is either biting down on his shoulder or licking against his rim while he grinds and moans into bedsheets.

Lance's mouth will suck his cock, hard and tight, making Keith bite the back of his hand. Or sometimes Lance's mouth is playful, slow little kitten licks against his shaft as Keith's lying on his side. And when Keith has Lance's cock filling his own mouth at the same time, he tries to match the slow pace, but he's too needy.

He comes first and Lance laughs as Keith wills his throat to relax or squeezes Lance's balls until he comes next, and Keith can swallow him down.

"It's not a race," Lance says, pillowing his head on his hands and looking at Keith with a knowing smirk.

"You have my jizz on your neck. It's kind of distracting."

"Well, I don't swallow. You're a salty boy, unlike me."

"I wouldn't know? Have you tasted yourself?" Keith scrunches his nose.

Lance sits up and he's hovering over Keith, looking down at him below. His mouth is so close.

"If you ever saved me a drop, greedy boy," Lance says, his breath sending a chill against Keith's wet lips.

  


**

 

 

Sometimes Lance's marks glow in the night as they lay together, and Keith has always woken with the sun. But now he wakes with them.

Keith watches as they dim and brighten in tandem with the rise and fall of his chest and he stares, mesmerized. His head is pillowed on Lance's bare chest. His hand is flat on Lance's torso, also rising and falling, feeling every breath and beat of his heart.

"I've loved you for so long," Keith whispers one night when he's sure Lance can't hear him as he sleeps soundly. "I wanted you to be happy. She made you so happy, so I never–"

Keith stops himself, fingers curling into fists and his eyes squeezing shut.

  


**

  


He gets used to it. To coming home to Lance and being bathed in excitement or joy or lust. Jumping into his arms and laughing as he's carried away.

There are bad days too. When he walks in and it's anger or sadness or Lance finds a fresh bruise or a cut and he feels the annoyance and disappointment.

Some nights he tries to sleep on the couch, but Lance grabs his hand and marches him upstairs and they share a bed and Kosmo licks his face and tries to lay across the both of them but he's as big as a _horse_ so they both end up laughing and covered in pounds of blue fluff.

 

 

**

 

 

"Your house is done," Lance tells Keith as he picks him up from the away mission on Aoakwi.

"Oh," Keith says.

"I'm giving it to Veronica for now. You guys can have a place to watch softcore porn and get drunk without traumatizing me. And that way we don't have to keep quiet or deal with her little smarmy face in the morning when she's over."

Keith smiles. "That sounds like a really good plan. We can tell her when we get home."

Lance reciprocates the smile and Keith looks at him and holds down a gasp.

Because he feels in that single moment, a familiar feeling emanating from Lance. Washing over him with warmth and softness and it's not just need and lust. It's intimacy, and trust and joy and–

It's _love_.

Lance is in love with him.

Keith savors the feeling, closing his eyes as they zip through the wormhole and opening them to the sight of New Altea.

 

_Home._

  


**

  


Keith will only have the dream two more times. He doesn't know this yet.

He's sitting amongst the flowers, enjoying the sun and Lance has his back pressed against his.

Keith's the one facing Allura, she stands and approaches him with her hands behind her back. She's smiling and Lance is humming a song behind him.

"Allura," Keith says. "We miss you."

"I know," she takes out a crown of flowers from behind her back and places it gently on his head. "Make him happy."

"I promise–"

"I wasn't talking to you, Keith," she says.

Keith turns as the weight from his back vanishes and Lance is there, taking his face in his hands and kissing him.

 

**

 

He wakes up, and Lance is still kissing him. Keith runs his thumbs along the marks under Lance's eyes and they feel so soft, not like his broken skin. They feel soft and whole and they pulse with _life_. Keith pulls back, breaking the kiss and his heart is racing.

"I feel it too," Lance says, his marks glowing softly. "I feel it all. God, it's so beautiful. We're so beautiful."

Keith doesn't have to, but he wants to say it. He knows Lance wants to hear it.

He needs to say it.

"I love you, Lance McClain," Keith whispers against his lips, kissing him softly.

"I know," Lance says when he pulls back.

"Thanks, Han."

"Anything for you, Prince Keith."

"Lance..."

"An Altean bodyguard and a Galra Prince, we make quite the pair, don't we?"

"Lance!"

"If your mother, the Queen of the Galra catches us—"

"Oh my God, there is _so_ much wrong with what you just said… Yeah it's going to bother me if I don't correct you," Keith sits up, ticking items off his hand. "First of all my Mom isn't a _Queen_ , she's a democratically-elected leader! And you're not actually Altean, nor are you my bodyguard! If anything you're occasionally my personal pilot, and I'm the First Son or First Mullet or whatever you call me."

"Chamomile tea there, your highness," Lance sits up, wrapping his arms around Keith and kissing the scar on his cheek.

" _Calmate_ , Lance, and I will not. You're–ugh!" Keith reaches up to grab his face and run his thumbs along those beautiful blue marks on his skin.

"Yeah, but a personal pilot and the First Son hooking up sounds like the plot of a trash rom-com. I'm going with Altean bodyguard and Galra Prince. That's more like some good fantasy romance novel shit. Or the 10,000 word gay erotica fanfiction Veronica thinks I don't know that she reads."

"We both read them."

"Is that what you've been doing at her house on Tuesday nights?"

"You specifically said that house was for me and Veronica to get drunk and enjoy gay porn in!"

"Oh my God you're writing it now, aren't you?"

"She is, I'm just helping her keep it realistic. There's never enough stretching or lube."

"I said I was sorry! Wait, am I supposed to be upset? Dang it, Mullet, you got me again," Lance is laughing. “I love seeing you get all flushed and red," he kisses Keith again. "You look so good in red."

"Blue is your color," Keith says. "I've been telling you this."

"So are we violets that occasionally fuck? Or are we something more now?"

Keith just nods and crushes his mouth to Lance's.

  


**

 

  
A spicolian movement passes. Full of kisses over breakfast and in the shower and intimate touches and even a few cutesy nicknames tossed back and forth and laughed at.

They're flying to the Blade's next relief mission and Keith looks at Lance, how happy he seems. How right he looks at the helm of his ship.

(Kolivan finally signed it over to Keith, and Keith immediately handed the title to Lance saying "No takebacks," before he could protest).

 _I love him so much._ Keith thinks.

Lance looks over to him. "Love you too, Keith."

Keith feels his heart race. He knows it, but they've really only said it the one time and it was just Keith and he stutters.

"That's... that's–you didn't have to, I know it's—"

Lance laughs. "What? You said it first. _Calmate_ , mi vida."

"Yeah but, I know that was last week, and you weren't ready to say it back or whatever so um… thank you. I'm gl–"

Lance cuts him off. "Wait. No, you said it just now. You were... huh," he clicks his tongue. "You didn't actually say it, did you?"

"Not out loud."

"You were feeling it," Lance says.

"Yeah," Keith answers.

"But… that means you've felt it for a while," Lance dips into a turn, avoiding a few pieces of space debris. "I just thought it's what you always felt like."

Keith looks down at his hands, clasped together as he nods.

"How long?"

"Long," Keith whispers. "Too long to tell you when it started."

"Would you have ever told me?"

"Would you have wanted me to?"

Lance purses his lips. "Yes."

"Would it have made a difference?"

"Would you have stayed instead of leaving us for the Blade?"

The air is tense, Keith feels it.

This is going to be their first fight as a couple.

"We should set down there," he murmurs, pointing to a nearby asteroid.

Lance lands the craft and they stay inside. He leans forward in his chair, hands on his face.

 

**

 

They fight.

They bicker.

They unload every piece of baggage they have.

 

**

 

"You have no right to tell me who I have to share my feelings with!"

"You left me! If you loved me, why didn't you stay?"

"You didn't love me back!"

"You didn't stay long enough to give me the chance! Do you know how—god, Keith, just being in a _room_ with you made me feel better. You were helping me with my confidence, and you believed in me! I needed that!"

"I'm sorry your needs and a god damn war–"

"Don't you dare!"

"I was a lovesick teenager and you were flirting with everyone who crossed your path. You think I was keen to stick around and watch that?"

 

**

 

They fight until their voices are hoarse and as Keith turns to Lance, he feels drained. He feels Lance feeling drained and he knows it's the last thing. The one last thing hovering in the air between them.

A ghost that needs to be laid to rest.

"I loved you and I wanted you to be happy," Keith's voice wobbles. "She made you happy."

"Keith don't…"

"And I loved her like a sister. She deserved you more than I did."

"... and I thought I was the one with the self-esteem issues."

It's not the response he was expecting. "What?"

"Wow. You really have no idea what a goddamn catch you are? Everyone in the Garrison wanted you. No matter where we traveled, people were fawning all over you. Shiro told me he was gonna slap that dude Rolo into the _sun_ if he kept looking at you the way he did. You really didn't notice?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I wasn't looking at anyone else but you."

Lance licks his lips.

"Would you have stayed for me?"

"No, because I left for you. So you could keep Red. So you could be a paladin. So Voltron had the best leader. I didn't realize it wasn't really Shiro. Maybe if I had stayed... I would have..." Keith squeezes his eyes shut with the realization.

"Oh, Keith," Lance puts his hand on Keith's shoulder.

"Fuck! I would have _known_. I should have stayed."

The guilt and regret bubbling up inside of him suddenly ebb back down.

Because Lance is looking at him. And there's still love.

"It's just a fight?" Keith asks tentatively.

"Couples fight," Lance says.

"Are you mad?"

"A little bit, yeah." Keith's breath catches. "But not for much longer," Lance adds.

"Why?"

"Hard to stay mad at the past," Lance looks down. "I wasted a decaphoeb of my life trying to deny it. You can't change it, and it's a waste. Just like it's a waste of time if I sit here and drive myself mad thinking of all the possible ways we could have _been_ together without going through everything we did."

"You'll go Slav-crazy if you do," Keith stutters a laugh.

Lance leans forward on the steering control as the asteroid turns toward the sun in the solar system. He's bathed in light and his marks reflect it.

"I have abandonment issues," Keith says. "It fucked me up when I was younger. It's going to keep fucking me up."

"I have self-worth issues, and I don't like being patronized," Lance says. "It bothers me when people hold back or don't tell me shit because they want to spare my feelings. I want the agency to decide for myself how I'm allowed to feel."

"I want you to trust that if I need to walk away, I'll come back. I need someone strong enough to wait for me."

Lance leans back in his seat.

It's just a fight.

Couples fight.

Lance smiles. "I'm gonna marry you someday, Keith Kogane. That'll show you."

Keith grins. "Not if I marry you first."

Lance starts the ship again. "I'll marry you so hard it'll make your head spin."

"I'll marry you harder. You won't even know it's coming. One day you're just walking around and then, boom! Married. Stuck with me."

"That a promise or a threat?"

"Both."

 

**

 

It's not their last fight. But it's their first one, so it feels the hardest.

And it lasts the longest until Keith can't take it and runs to Lance, and Lance is already forgiving him and lifting him into an embrace and kissing him breathless

(The most they fight about afterwards is Keith forgetting to do the dishes before leaving on a mission, or Lance's habit of leaving his shoes by the bedroom door for Keith to trip over.)

  


**

 

"Another fun fact about Altean Empaths!" Coran says cheerfully. Lance groans.

"Is there not like, a pamphlet you could have given us?" Keith rubs his temples. "I feel like this could have all been written down somewhere."

"Coran, I just want to know why we've been reciprocating more. Like, if he's having a bad day, _I_ start sniping at people. It used to only be the other way around. Now it goes both ways, which y'know _I'm_ used to but Keith isn't," Lance winks.

"And it used to lessen with distance. I was on Neo-Daibazaal in the middle of a meeting and they were having a moment of silence for the fallen and I had to run out of the room because I couldn't stop laughing. And Lance was on _Earth_."

"As I was saying, when Altean Empaths find a compatible partner, an event can occur, bringing them together and solidifying their partnership. As a result, the empathetic link evolves to allow for emotions to be shared even across star systems," Coran sighs wistfully. "It's very romantic, really. And it can be from a declaration of undying love, or the simple act of a touch or a kiss or–"

Lance sighs. "Coran, I jumped him in the shower and… did _stuff_." Keith coughs.

"Ah, well it seems that moment was enough to solidify your bond."

"So... we had a bonding moment?" Keith says with a grin.

"Oh my God," Lance smacks his forehead.

"Yes! A very powerful one," Coran smiles.

"Keith," Lance hisses.

"You cradled me in your arms, _remember_?"

"Yeah because you couldn't stand after I–" Lance blinks. "I'm sorry I lied about remembering the bonding moment, are you happy?"

"What do you think?" Keith says.

"I think you're hovering between 'happy' and 'smug little brat who isn't getting another bonding moment if he keeps this up'."

"Oh, I'll keep you _up._ "

"Coran, got any more fun facts about Altean Empaths? Like, can they make their partners punch themselves in the face?"

  


**

 

So, they can't hide their feelings ever again.

But it works for them.

Lance comes to him when Keith feels needy. And he pulls back when Keith wants space.

He does the same for Lance. Knows when he needs the quiet and time to meditate in the garden outside their house, and when he's just bored and waiting for Keith to come sit by his side so he can start chatting.

And they can watch the sun go down, sky filling with purple and lilac colors from the blue star New Altea orbits.

 

  
**

  


There doesn't need to be a proposal or anything grand. Lance's family has been giving Keith enough hints (Mrs. McClain literally wrote down Lance's ring size and taped it to the door of his ship). Krolia starts eyeing both their hands when Lance drops him off on missions.

"Should we just pick a date?" Keith mumbles into Lance's neck, cuddling him close. "Or coordinate all the schedules first? Which will probably take us another decaphoeb with how many moving parts there are in everyone's lives."

"Heh. You should make Shiro do it."

"He's too busy these days."

"Yeah, so his second-in-command would have to handle that."

Keith grins. "Veronica sure is going to love that."

"It can be her wedding present to us."

"Fuck that, I want a new tea kettle."

 

**

 

One day they walk to Allura's memorial.

"He makes me happy," Lance says, squeezing Keith's hand.

"I promise I always will," Keith says.

They don't feel anything from her statue. It's not really her. It's marble and nothing more.

They don't need to.

They feel what they feel between the two of them.

And it's more than enough.

 

  
**

 

It's the night before the wedding, before their quiet home will be bustling with Lance's family and paladins and Galra and Alteans. Keith's too excited to sleep, so he just lays next to Lance, Kosmo at their feet, trying to calm himself enough to at least nap.

A day from then, Keith will be sleeping next to his _husband_. Waking up with his _husband_. Brushing his teeth and making stupid faces in the mirror with his _husband_.

Lance groans.

"Keith, I didn't save the goddamn universe to have bags under my eyes on my goddamn wedding day. _Please_ go to sleep."

Keith chuckles. "I'm trying, Lance. I promise."

Lance's marks glow.

"Really?" Lance asks, his eyes are shut.

"Yes, really! I'm not–"

Lance cuts him off.

"I'm happy too."

Keith closes his eyes. Falling into the dream a final time.

 

**

 

**5/ let you go**

 

Allura and Lance are talking in the dreamscape, sitting in the flowers together, shoulder to shoulder, but not touching.

Keith sees them at the edge where it began, but his feet are no longer planted. He can move, and he walks towards them, picking up their conversation along the way.

"You two are so good together," she smiles. "I was ready to step away when he was ready to tell you."

"You knew?" Lance says.

Allura shrugs, resting her head in her hands. "We all _knew_. I almost shoved you two in a closet and locked the door, but we needed Voltron. Well, almost all of us knew, besides you Lance."

"Who else didn't know?"

"Hunk."

"Huh," Lance blinks.

"Regardless," Allura smiles. "I held on to you as long as time allowed me. I was grateful for that."

"What do you mean?" Keith asks. "As long as time allowed?"

Allura looks to him. "From the moment I woke up, and I reactivated the ship, my time began to wind down. The fractures began too subtly, too slowly for me to notice. A part of myself went into the Castle of Lions. Another piece to heal the Balmera. To save you, Lance. To resurrect Shiro. I was living on borrowed time."

"I wish I knew then," Lance says, his marks dark blue. "I was so angry you never told me."

Allura sighs, patting his knee and looks back at Keith as he sits in front of them. "Do you know how many times a piece of paper can be folded?"

"Eight times," Keith answers. "You can't fold anything more than that without–"

Allura nods. "You'd have to expend more energy than the physical universe can give. Now how many times do you estimate a soul can be split before it shatters into wisps and ashes?"

Keith thinks back decaphoebs, when Lance was raw and heavy with grief, begging Pidge to pull anything he could of Allura out of him.

"What are you then? A wisp? A homunculus?"

She looks to the sky. "I think… I'm like a breath. Something small, but you'll know when I'm gone."

"You can stay," Keith's voice breaks. "I never wanted to make Lance choose and I–"

Her finger touches his mouth.

"I love you both so much," she grins. "But I would have never married you, Lance."

Lance gasps and Allura laughs.

"Why not? I'm a catch! Keith's gonna marry me! Keith, tell her what a catch I am!"

"That's just the thing," Allura nods her head towards Keith. "I can't compete with a Galra Prince."

"First Son."

"You keep telling yourself that, Kogane," Allura stands, brushing her dress off. She walks towards a mist in the distance and pauses. Her hair flowing in the wind as she turns to them.

"It makes me happy to see you together."

There isn't an ounce of regret or sadness in her words as she fades away.

  


**

 

 

**6/ because, we're already home**

 

 

Keith wakes up slowly, Lance still wrapped tightly around him.

"It's the last morning we're waking up boyfriends," Keith says, running his fingers through Lance's hair.

"Because tomorrow we'll wake up _husbands_ ," Lance grins and kisses him. "Think Krolia will at least knight me?"

"I am not. A Prince."

"First Son-In-Law me?"

"Ugh, fine. I'll ask her."

"I can accept that," Lance says. Keith slides out of their bed, turns to look at him. The most beautiful person he's seen in his life. And Lance smiles back, echoing love and trust and contentment.

"So, are you ready?" Keith asks.

 

Lance pauses. He lets out a deep breath.

 

 

"I am."  
  


 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Translations:
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  **Ahh Lala, tú chico que pasó mi examen.** || Lala, your guy passed my test.
> 
>  **Me resbala. Tú estás loca, ¿A quién le importa esa mierda de comprar toallitas o tampones? Tumba eso, Beroni.** || Whatever. You're crazy. And who gives a fuck about buying pads or tampons? Let it go, Beroni.
> 
>  **Calmate** || Calm down, calm yourself
> 
>  **Mi vida** || term of adoration, literally "my life"
> 
>  
> 
> **
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Soundtrack!
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Esthero - Indigo Boy  
> With Confidence - Icarus  
> José González - Teardrop (Massive Attack Cover)  
> Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories - Do You Sleep?  
> Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home  
> Mumford & Sons - I Will Wait  
> BT & Tori Amos - Blue Skies  
> The Smiths - Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want  
> The Veronicas - Untouched  
> Full Frontal - You Think You're A Man  
> Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know / Your House  
> The Perishers - Trouble Sleeping  
> Divinyls - I Touch Myself  
> Touch & Go - Straight To...Number One (Dreamcatcher's Mix)  
> Tove Lo - Talking Body  
> Hooverphonic - 2Wicky  
> Phantogram - When I'm Small  
> Teagan & Sara - Living Room  
> HYLLS - Linger (Cranberries Cover)  
> Feist - I Feel It All  
> Thea Gilmore - Ever Fallen In Love (Buzzcocks Cover)  
> City And Colour - Hello, I'm In Delaware  
> Broken Social Scene - Pitter Patter Goes My Heart  
> [Playlist on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/user/thatironstring/playlist/6aZZzOn0de8rpUgmSFVpvG?si=rbv1RhGRSsy2999cQYT6kQ)


End file.
